


better together

by paperback92



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Trailer, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Endgame Speculation, Endgame fix it, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Iron Dad, Not Canon Compliant, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-16 04:46:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18514186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperback92/pseuds/paperback92
Summary: Pepper whispers into Tony’s ear how she’s never letting him out of her sight again. She threatened it before but she’s serious now. Especially if they’re going to make that baby.Tony give a breathless little laugh before he passes out.Or:Pepper faces the end of world with the love of her life, who is mourning the kid who had practically been his son, and is determined to never by left behind by him ever again.





	better together

The day Tony comes home, Pepper is winding down a twelve-hour day full of nothing but continuously putting out fires. From a CEO’s point of view, it’s been a hellish day. Easily one of the worse she’s had as the boss in a long time. 

From a personal standpoint, every day without Tony is worse than the last. 

It’s been a little over a month since half of all life turned into dust. They’re calling it the Decimation. Pepper doesn’t like it. She thinks it’s sounds stupid, and it makes her skin crawl every time she hears it, but one guy said it on CNN and it caught on like wildfire. 

After it happened, everyone turned to the Avengers, or what was left of them. For all the Avengers past and public mistakes, the world still turned to them for a plan. For hope. No one really knew how to react when their heroes admitted that that they didn’t know what to do either. 

The shock wore off around the one-month mark. It was then that the collective of survivors decided that it’s time to move on and bury their dead. That is, everyone outside of Avengers Compound. 

Pepper has been staying at the compound since that day. She’s not afraid to admit she panicked when all but two board members desegregated during the emergency meeting. 

Her first impulse had been to head to the compound. She didn’t want to go there but with Tony gone, Pepper knew that ultimately the compound was her responsibility. She knew that Tony would want her to look after the place. 

A week later, Rhodey, Steve, Nat, Bruce, and Thor came back tired and defeated. 

And thirty-three days after the world ends, Pepper is holed up in Tony’s office taking endless calls from SI employees cashing in the company’s promise of funding their loved one’s funeral arrangements. 

In a rare moment between calls, Pepper glances at the clock. It’s late. She’s knows she would pack up and turn in for the night but she also knows it won’t do any good. She hasn’t had a full night’s sleep since Tony left. 

No one in the compound has, she thinks. 

Everyone has lost someone. Family, friends, teammates. No was immune, and no one is exempt from the grief that hangs heavily over them all. Some days, Pepper feels like she will choke on it. It’s worn on them all. Patience has grown thin and they’re all guilty of snappy remarks and saying not so nice things, Pepper included. 

She’s almost ashamed of some things she said to Steve the night he came back. When she saw him, the imagines of how she found Tony after Germany flashed through her mind; His bruised face, his battered body, that haunted look in his eyes. It was Tony’s broken sobs that echoed in her ears as she screamed at Steve. 

_My mom, pep. He knew Barnes killed my mom._

Pepper’s still staring at the clock and debating if she’s actually hungry enough to venture out to the common area for food when the office door flies open. Happy bursts in, red faced and out of breath. 

“He’s here.” He pants. “He’s outside.” 

That’s all Happy needs to say before she’s out the door and running, barefoot, down the hallways like a rocket. She hears Happy right behind her and she doesn’t stop until she’s out the door and onto the south lawn. Everyone else is already there, and she pushes her way through the crowd until she’s face to face with the spaceship touching down onto the ground. The hatch opens up and two figures hobble out. 

In-between one breath and the next, Pepper is thrust back in time ten years. Only this time, it’s not Rhodey that Tony is stubbornly leaning against, trying to make it seem that he’s walking unassisted. 

Now a woman with blue skin is helping him down, an arm firmly anchored around his waist. The pair is still a good bit away but Pepper can tell instantly that something is wrong just by the way Tony is activity leaning against her. Her instinct is proven correct the closer they get and Pepper gets a good look at his face. 

Ten years ago, when Tony Stark limped off that plane, he hadn’t returned healthy, not by any means, but he looked like himself. Now, well, if Pepper hadn’t weathered the worst of the worst with this man, if she hadn’t seen him at his lowest, she’s not sure if she’d be able to recognize him. 

His face is gaunt. His cheek bones stick out and a deep cut lines one. His beard is grown out, and it looks like he has double the number of grays in his limp, greasy hair. 

But it’s Tony’s eyes that get her. 

They’re close enough that Pepper can see them clearly but she can’t find one spark of life in them. Those once lively, warm, brown orbs are now dull and listless. They’re red and glassy, like he’s been crying. 

He’s so close now. He’s so close she can smell him. He reeks of sweat and blood. He’s so close she could reach out and touch him. 

She wants to, more than anything, but she’s almost scared too. He looks so fragile, so out of it. He looks like he may fall apart before she gets to him. 

They come to a stop in front of her and Tony looks up at the lack of movement. Pepper’s breath catches because he looks horrible, but he’s alive. 

Oh god- he’s alive. 

The realization hits her all at once and she can’t stop the choked off sob that escapes her. Tony blinks at the sound and something finally flickers in his eyes. 

“Pep?” He asks, voice raspy, as he takes a wobbly step towards her when she nods, nearly falling on his face. 

His new friend makes a disapproving sound at his actions grabs hold of him again. She shifts him into Pepper’s now open arms and Pepper wraps him up as soon as she gets her hands on him. She squeezes her eyes shut in relief when she feels his shaky limbs circle around her. 

“Pep.” She hears him breathe again into her hair and she tightens her hold on him. 

“I’m here, Tony. I’m here.” She reassures, and he sags against her. 

It’s easy to support his weight. She thinks this is the thinnest that she’s ever seen him. He’s hot too. He’s putting off heat like a furnace. 

Distantly she hears footsteps heading their way. She wants to wave them away; she wants to tell them to go away, but doing that would requiring taking her hands off of Tony and there’s no way she’s doing that. Instead, she presses her face into the crook of his neck and settles into the unnatural heat. 

Pepper whispers into Tony’s ear how she’s never letting him out of her sight again. She threatened it before but she’s serious now. Especially if they’re going to make that baby. 

Tony give a breathless little laugh before he passes out. 

Rhodey and Happy have to practically pry Tony from her grasp to pass him off to Cho and her team. She watches, numb, as they load him on a stretcher and rush back inside the building. She goes to follow but only takes two steps before her knees give out. 

It’s not until she’s down on the cold grass that she finally notices that someone is missing. With a cold rush of dread, Pepper realizes that Peter Parker followed Tony up into space but didn’t follow him back home. 

__________ 

 

Tony spends his first hours back on Earth trapped in a fever induced, delirious haze. 

Pepper sits in a chair at his bedside in med bay, clutching his dry hand, pressing it to her forehead with eyes closed and resolutely ignoring the gaggle of people that thought it was appropriate to camp out in Tony’s room. 

They include: all of his former teammates, Carol Danvers, the glowing woman from space that found the spaceship and guided it back to Earth, Scott Lang, who tells Pepper he’s Ant-Man and first met Tony while fighting him in Germany, and Rocket, a talking raccoon who Pepper has seen around the compound but still isn’t used to. 

Cho steps in and refuses to discuss anything related to Tony’s condition until the room clears out. The people fully in Tony Stark’s corner may be few but they’re fiercely loyal. No one budges. 

Cho crosses her arms in front of her and narrows her eyes a bit and it’s enough for Lang and Rockett to take their leave. She looks at Pepper next to decide who can stay and who can go, but Pepper’s too exhausted to make one. She’s give out. All she wants to do is crawl into the bed and lay beside her fiancée. 

Thankfully, the decision is made for her. Resting a reassuring hand on her shoulder, Rhodey kicks everyone out but Happy, Steve, Bruce, and Tony’s new alien/robot friend: Nebula. 

Tony has a laundry list of things that’s wrong with him. The highlights are: malnutrition, dehydration, exhaustion, various contusions, two broken ribs, and a raging infection. Cho says it’s a miracle the infection hasn’t killed him. 

To which Nebula promptly informs them it was her, not a miracle, that did all the heavy work. 

Which leads to the story of how he got stabbed. The thought of Tony fighting hand to hand in a broken suit with that monster makes Pepper woozy and she presses her head against his hands again but not before witnessing Steve pale at least two shades. 

Nebula’s monotone tone only falters when she tells them what happened to Peter. Pepper doesn’t want to hear it, doesn’t even want to think about it. It crosses her mind that someone will have to tell May Parker that her nephew is dead, and that it’ll probably be her. Pepper’s wooziness morphs into actual nausea then. 

To think someone like Peter Parker is dead, is something Pepper can’t even begin to comprehend. She hadn’t been as close to the boy as Tony had but she’d had her fair share of homework helped and meals shared with him. They had all been close enough that Pepper considered May to be a friend. 

To think someone as bright and dynamic, someone who just teemed with life, someone who was so young, he was just a kid, as Peter was just, snuffed out of existence was unbearable. 

As if he could hear her thoughts, Tony suddenly thrashes in his sleep, calling out for Peter. 

Softly at first, then loudly in a heart wrenching wail that sent the first tear running down Pepper’s face. She hushes him gently, hands pressed against the side of his burning face with no affect. Tony just grows more upset, caught up in whatever nightmares plague him. He calls out for Peter, Pepper, and even his mother. 

Cho barks out an order for a sedative. A nurse pushes a clear liquid into his IV and Pepper watches as Tony’s cries peter out into whimpers then, thankfully, blessedly, a quiet sleep. 

 

__________ 

 

Tony’s fever breaks two days later. 

Pepper is there when he blinks awake, fighting through the fog of illness and drugs, but lucid. She knows this because the second he meets her eyes; he breaks down and sobs. 

Cho releases him from med bay the next day. He makes the great migration from his hospital bed to their master bed and goes no further. Neither does Pepper. 

After years of near misses and close calls, now that the world as they’ve known is has ended, and no one has any kind of plan to fix that, Pepper feels like she’s finally earned the right to be selfish and hide away with the love of her life. 

Besides Tony, no one else agrees with that. 

By the end of the first day, they both have to turn their cell phones off. Pepper has FRIDAY forward the flood of pressing emails that pour into her Inbox about SI to the rest of the board. At least once a day, someone comes around to their little apartment isolated in the back of the compound, asking for Tony. The only ones that leave them be to wallow are Rhodey and Happy. 

Tony isn’t doing well at all. He stays in bed almost all day. If he leaves their bedroom, it’s usually only to use the bathroom or to go sit wherever Pepper may be. 

He doesn’t escape into his lab. He lays under the covers or sits pressed against Pepper and stares into the distance with red eyes, like he’s always on the verge of tears. He doesn’t talk about Peter or what happened in space. Really, he doesn’t talk much at all. 

But he eats when Pepper gives him something and hasn’t looked at the liquor cabinet once. Pepper isn’t sure if that makes her more relived or worried. 

__________ 

 

“Someone has to tell May.” Tony whispers one night, wrapped around her in their bed, his voice raspy. It’s the first time he’s spoken that day. 

“I can.” Pepper says but feels Tony shaking his head before she even finishes her sentence. 

“No, it should be me.” He says, and she knows there’s no arguing with him. 

 

__________ 

 

Happy drives them into the city first thing the next morning. It’s the first time any of them have been back since that day. 

Even without getting out of the car, Pepper can tell that the air quality is horrid. Bits of ash still hang in the surrounding space. They pass people in in surgical masks. Missing persons posters line blocks. Entire apartment buildings are abandoned. 

Tony’s leg bounces anxiously where he sits beside her. Pepper lays her hand on top of his and squeezes. He returns the gesture but doesn’t look away from the car window. 

__________ 

 

Even though she’s not given any previous warning they were coming, May Parker doesn’t look the least bit surprised to find Tony and Pepper at her door. 

Pepper‘s surprised though when she gets a good look at the other woman, even though she knows she shouldn’t be, but she’s shocked at how May looks like she’s aged ten years since Pepper saw her last. The lines around her eyes and mouth are deeper. The circles under her eyes make Pepper wonder when was the last time she slept. 

May hugs them both tightly and sits them down on the worn couch. She disappears into the kitchen for a moment then comes back with three steaming mugs. She presses one into Tony’s shaking hands, who immediately puts it down onto the coffee table in front. He watches May with searching, narrowed eyes. 

“You know.” He accuses. 

May stares at Tony silently for a long moment. Then she sighs, putting down her own mug. Pepper notices that her eyes are red just like Tony’s. 

“I know.” She shrugs a little, like they’re talking about the weather and not the death of her own child. “Mother’s intuition.” 

“Rhodey told you.” Tony accuses again. 

“Yeah.” May concedes. “But I knew before that. I knew once everyone disappeared.” 

“You seem to be taking it well.” Tony snaps but looks like he regrets it instantly. Pepper still lays a warning hand on his knee and May pins him under a fiery glare. He blows out a ragged breath and leans forward onto his knees. He covers his eyes with his hand. 

“Sorry. I’m sorry. For everything.” Tony chokes out. He looks up and meets May’s hardened gaze. He shakes his head, scrubbing his hand down the length of his face. “I tried to send him home, May, I swear. But he’s so goddamn stubborn.” 

Neither woman comments on his slip and, slowly, the heat melts from May’s expression. She slumps back into her chair, looking exhausted again. 

“Yeah,” She breathes. “I know he is.” 

The silence that follows is oppressive. Anytime Pepper has been within these walls, the Parker home has never been this quiet. It seems unnatural. 

The atmosphere shifts when May suddenly gets up and hurries from the room, down the hallway. By the time Pepper and Tony share questioning glances, she’s back. She stops in front of Tony and holds something out to him. Tony raises a brow at her but takes it anyway. Pepper leans over his shoulder and sees what it as right as Tony’s breath stutters. 

It’s a picture of Peter and Tony from Peter’s intern signing ceremony. Pepper knows because she was there that day. She had taken that picture. His internship had just been a cover until Tony offered it to him for real. Tony had claimed at first it was a favor for Peter, that it’d look good on Peter’s collage applications. But Pepper knew that Tony enjoyed spending time with the kid and an official internship meant time spent together outside of Peter’s web slinging extracurricular. 

In the photo, Peter is smiling widely, holding an upside-down certificate and giving Tony bunny ears. Tony is playing it straight but the bunny ears he’s giving Peter give him away. 

Tony’s voice sounds as wet as May’s eyes when he finally speaks. Even Pepper is blinking away tears. 

“I can’t take this, May.” 

“I’m not giving it to you. It’s a loaner.” May says then clarifies when Tony gives her a confused look. “You’re only borrowing it. It’s one of Peter’s favorite pictures. You can give it when you bring Peter back.” 

Tony’s frown deepens. His eyes darken. “I don’t think I can do that, May.” 

“You can’t do something?” May scoffs, but the sound is not unkind. “That doesn’t sound like the Tony Stark I know.” 

“Maybe I’m not that Tony Stark anymore.” He bites out, challenging and showing more emotion than Pepper has seen since he fell from the sky and onto their back yard. 

May doesn’t back down. She sticks her hand out expectantly. “Then I’ll be taking that back.” 

Tony stares at May, eyes steely. It’s like they’re in a showdown, waiting to see who will bend first. Pepper waits with bated breath until finally Tony blinks and nods once. His shoulders pull back in that familiar line of inspiration that Pepper knows all too well. 

“You’ll get it back when Peter brings it home.” He says and marches out of the apartment, stopping only to briefly kiss May on the cheek. 

May pulls Pepper into a hug when she goes to follow. 

“There’s our Tony.” She whispers into her ear and Pepper can’t help but hug May back a little tighter. 

__________ 

 

Tony’s renewed energy and determination revives the rest of the weary team. Emotions are still running high though. Everyone is still too raw. 

And there’s still no definite plan. They try to work together but words often rub the wrong way and tempers are tested, and it’s not unusual for Pepper to return home from the office to find Tony brooding in his lab. 

Pepper walks into the lab late one afternoon just in time to find Tony kick his office chair halfway across the room. She stops just inside the door, not sure if he’s noticed her. He hasn’t. She knows that by the guttural sound that Tony makes. How he hurls a wrench into a wall. The way he sweeps every item off his work desk in one fail swoop. 

She watches as he rounds onto Peter’s worktable and, for a split second, she’s terrified that he’ll destroy that too. She takes another step forward, ready to stop Tony from doing something he’ll regret later when Tony suddenly freezes. 

He stares at the space for a few long moments, long enough that Pepper gets ready to intervene, when he reaches a trembling hand out. He picks up an orange stress ball off the table and just stares more at it. 

The moment finally passes, Tony shakes himself out of whatever trance he was in and jumps a little when he notices her standing there. He gives her a weak smile and heads her way, ball still clenched in his hand, stepping over the mess he’s made. He wraps himself up around her when he reaches her and Pepper wastes no time holding him. She even sways them like she knows he likes. 

“I think I may have an idea.” He mumbles into her shoulder. 

“Yeah?” She questions softly. 

“Yeah.” She feels him shallow hard. “It may not work though.” 

Pepper slides a hand through Tony’s hair, cradling his head, and holding him tighter against her. “It’s worth a shot.” She tries and after a pause he nods. 

He pulls back just enough to look at her. 

“Feel like going on a field trip?” 

 

__________ 

 

Tony takes Pepper to Greenwich Village. He insists on making a pit stop at a local bodega and then brings her to 177A Bleecker St. She stands to the side as he relentlessly pounds on the front door until a visibly exasperated man wrenches it open. 

“Wong!” Tony greets enthusiastically, but the man does not return the sentiment. 

“What do you want, Stark?” The man sighs. “I am very busy.” 

“Just to chat. See if we can save the world together.” Tony lifts up the bag from the bodega. “I brought ice cream. I seem to remember a certain someone is fond of Hulk-A-Hulking Burning Fudge?” 

Wong stares at them with narrowed eyes for a long moment before sighing again, this time in clear defeat. 

“Come in.” 

Inside, Tony formally introduces Pepper to Wong, who is a wizard apparently. 

“Sorcerer of the mystic arts.” Wong grumbles, correcting Tony for probably the tenth time since they’ve been there. Both Tony and Pepper watch as he thumbs through a thick golden glowing book. He finds what he’s looking for with a triumphant “Aha!”. 

Tony has a million and one questions that he fires off and Wong answers them with the patience of more like a saint than a sorcerer. It’s over Pepper’s pay grade but by the end of the discussion she gets the gist of the situation. 

Basically, Peter and the others are inside the soul stone and they could get them out. 

 

__________ 

 

A few days later, Pepper walks into the lab and finds Tony furiously sketching something out on a piece of paper. 

“What are you working on, hun?” She asks, threading her arms around his neck and looking over his shoulder. 

At first glance, it looks like a blueprint for a regular Iron Man gauntlet. But then she looks closer and sees five oval shapes holes at the joint of each finger then a sixth in the center. There’s a hastily drawn, almost crude looking version on a piece of printer paper sitting by Tony’s elbow. 

Tony finishes scratching out a calculation on another piece of loose paper before twisting in her hold, directly facing her. 

“You know how Maximoff messed with my head, right?” He asks bluntly and Pepper nods. 

Ultron is a time she’d rather forget. Though, that mess seems like a walk in the park compared to what they’re facing now. 

“Okay, right, okay,” Tony goes on, with a manic glint in his eyes. His left hand shakes and smears lead on the blueprint. Pepper spies the half dozen empty coffee mugs scattered around him. “Sometimes I have these dreams. And sometimes they’re just that: dreams. But sometimes, sometimes, sometimes,” He wags a finger emphasizing each word and thoughtfully turns back to the papers. “But sometimes they’re more than that.” 

Tony turns back around and hands her the blueprint. 

“Pepper.” He starts slowly, seriously. “I have a crazy idea.” 

 

__________ 

 

He’s right. It’s a very crazy idea and when he shares it with the rest of the group, they immediately tell him as much. 

Pepper watches helplessly as Tony’s frustration bleeds out almost instantly. She reaches over to take his hand but he jerks away at the last minute. He runs it through his increasingly graying hair and tugs at it. 

“Tony,” Bruce starts gently. “What you’re talking about, time travel, it’s-it’s theoretical at the least and wildly irresponsible at worst. Even if we could manage it, you have to understand, the risks would be unimaginable.” Bruce glances around the room, looking for backup. “We’re talking about very real damages to time and space.” 

Everyone but Natasha jumps when Tony suddenly slams his palms against the table. “Well, if anyone else has a better plan, I’d love to hear it.” 

None is forthcoming and Tony scoffs. 

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. It seems like I’m the only one contributing to this little group project but when I turn something in, it’s not good enough.” 

Across the table, Steve shakes his head. “That’s not true, Tony. We’re all doing our best. We just need to consider all of our options.” 

“Doing your best? You sure about that, Rogers?” Tony doesn’t yell but his tone is so chilled, so bitter, that Pepper almost would prefer him to yell. “Because it seems like since I’ve been back, I’ve been the only one doing any leg work to fix this; to bring them back. To bring our friends, our family back.” 

Tony curls his trembling hands into fists. 

“We’re the Avengers. Our job is to protect and if we fail, then to avenge. Well, we failed folks. Big time. It’s time to take risks. No matter how crazy they seem. It’s time to do our damn jobs and start avenging.” 

He makes scathing eye contact with everyone in the room. 

“I’ll be in my lab. Whoever is interesting in doing their job can join me.” 

Tony turns on his heels and leaves the room. At first, only Pepper, Rhodey, and Nebula follow but soon they hear pounding footsteps coming down the hallway behind them. They wait for Scott Lang to catch up. 

Scott puts his hands on his knees for a moment and tries to catch his breath. “Man, you guys are fast.” He complains but then gets serious. He straightens up and looks at Tony. 

“Your plan isn’t as crazy as it sounds, Stark. Hope’s mom, Janet, left tons of research on the quantum realm. I remember reading something about time vortexes. If we can figure out how to travel through them, then we could pull this off.” 

Tony’s expression doesn’t outright change, but Pepper spies something she hasn’t seen in a long-time pass through his eyes: 

Hope. 

“I knew there was someone else in this dump with half a brain.” Tony says, waving them all to follow him. “What are we waiting for then? Let’s get to work!” 

__________ 

 

Steve steps into the lab less than an hour later. 

Pepper watches from her spot in the corner as Tony looks up from the white board he and Lang are scribbling on and the two men meet eyes. 

Tony crosses the room and doesn’t stop until he’s toe to toe with Steve. He’s almost a good head shorter than the Captain, but the determined look never wavers from Tony’s face. They watch each other silently for a moment before Tony speaks. 

“Do you trust me?” He asks and Steve automatically extends his hand. Tony takes it just as quickly. 

“I do.” 

__________ 

 

The others trickle in steadily after that, following Steve’s lead until the lab is too crowded and Tony is chasing people out. 

“I didn’t mean literally everyone come camp out in my lab. For god’s sake, go make yourselves useful somewhere else.” 

Clint makes a crack and Pepper watches, amused, as Tony swats at him with an oily rag. For an instant, it feels like the old days and Pepper thinks if this works then maybe things will turn out all right. 

__________ 

 

“You’re not leaving me behind.” 

Tony starts and looks up at her from where he sits as his worktable, brows raised, like she’s some kind of crazy person. 

Which, granted, isn’t entirely uncalled for considering she did just burst into his lab shouting. But Pepper acutely knows of how these kinds of scenarios can play out with Tony Stark and if she doesn’t jump on the offensive right off the bat, then she risks losing the argument altogether. 

“Pardon?” 

Pepper stands directly in front of him and plants her hands on her hips so that he knows she means business. 

“I said, You’re not leaving me behind. I’m coming with you on this mission” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Ms. Potts.” 

Pepper blinks in surprise. She was expecting to have to put up a bigger fight than that. She watches as Tony gets up and grabs a pile of clothing from a neighboring workbench. He pushes it into her hands and she’s speechless once she unravels it. 

It’s a track suit. It’s identical to the one that Tony is currently wearing, right down to the glowing arch reactor that’s nestled in the center of the shirt. 

Tony is grinning when she looks back up. 

“Try it on.” He urges. 

She does, stripping right there in the middle of the lab, confident that Friday will make the glass doors opaque. She can’t help the rush of satisfaction when she notices the way Tony’s gaze washes over her and the way his fingers twitch like he’s inching to touch her. If circumstances weren’t literally life and death, they’d put the ratty old couch in the corner to good use. 

Tony walks over after she tugs the shirt on and reaches out, tapping the arch reactor twice. Nanos crawl over Pepper’s skin rushing to cover her in deep purple armor. The sensation takes her breath away. 

A helmet slams over her face and it’s only dark for a second before the heads-up display powers on and a light feminine voice greets her. 

“Hello, Ms. Potts.” 

“That’s J.O.C.A.S.T.A., your suit’s AI.” Tony tells her, slowly walking around her, inspecting the suit. He almost sounds breathless. “She’s pretty intuitive, so don’t worry about working the suit. She’ll take care of you.” 

He makes his way back in front of her again. Pepper can’t help but notice his eyes, the suit even zeros in on them. They’re wide and dark, his pupils blown out. He looks hungrier now than when she was standing in just her bra and panties. 

She wants to see him face to face. She wants to touch him. The helmet melts away. 

“What mark is this?” She asks, feeling more than a little out of breath herself now. 

“Rescue, Mark I. I made it for you.” Tony admits, voice rough, and he looks intoxicating this close up. 

The suit fully retracts as Pepper pulls Tony towards her. They meet together in a flurry of hungry mouths and roaming hands and they make use of that couch after all. 

__________ 

 

They do the impossible. 

They travel through time and space. They bend the past to save their future. They step on many, many butterflies. 

But it works. 

They get five infinity stones and they all fit perfectly into Tony’s homemade gauntlet. But they’re not done yet. They still need the soul stone and they need to kill Thanos to get it. 

The mad Titan is pissed once they catch up to him but, ultimately, he’s no match for the collective wrath of the Avengers. 

Pepper isn’t sure who delivers the killing blow. It really doesn’t matter. They’re all able to get their hits in. They all exact revenge for their family and friends. For the universe. 

After Thanos takes his last breath, Tony strips him of the soul stone. 

He catches her eyes from across the battlefield. He’s too far away to say anything but his eyes say it all. He smiles at her, sad but determined, knowing she’ll never reach him in time to stop him. 

He mouths _I love you_ , places the last stone in his gauntlet, and snaps his fingers. 

As soon as he throws his head back, Pepper knows that she’ll never be able to forget the scream that erupts from Tony. It’s deafening, full of pain and agony. It’s rips Pepper’s heart right out of her chest. 

She’s not quick enough to catch him before he collapses into an unconscious heap into the ground. Tony doesn’t so much as twitch when she gathers him into her lap. He’s bruised and bloody. Blood drips from his nose His left arm is burnt to an absolute crisp. The scent of burning flesh makes her gag. 

Steve and Rhodey crash onto their knees beside her. Steve digs two trembling fingers into Tony’s neck as JOCASTA speaks to Pepper. 

“He’s alive, Ms. Potts.” The AI tells her at the same time Steve finds a pulse and slumps forward in relief. Pepper sags forward as well, burying her nose into Tony’s matted hair. She feels Rhodey squeeze her shoulder as he speaks to someone, but she can’t make out what he’s saying. All she can focus on is the miracle of Tony’s chest slowly rising and falling. She only tunes back into the world around her when a body rematerializes at their feet. 

Peter Parker comes back to life with heaving sobs. 

Like parents awoken in the middle of the night by the cries of their newborn, the sound snaps Pepper fully back into reality and even rouses Tony. Steve and Rhodey both help Peter sit up and try to comfort him but little success. The teen still chokes on his tears. 

“It’s all right, honey.” Pepper tries. Peter looks up at her and she extends a hand towards him, beckoning him over. “Come here, honey. It’s okay, you’re okay.” 

Peter crawls to her and tucks himself into her side. He stares at Tony with large wet eyes. 

“Is-oh my god-is he?-” 

“He’s alive.” Pepper quickly reassures. She grabs his hand and places in on Tony’s moving chest. Peter instantly calms. He leans down, resting his head against his mentor and cries quietly. He misses Tony blearily blinking his eyes open. 

Pepper doesn’t, thought, and is rewarded with a crooked, delirious smile. Tony closes his eyes again but casts out his right hand. Pepper takes it quickly and squeezes it. He buries his other into Peter’s curls and Peter hiccups at the touch. 

The three of them sit huddled together on the ground until a crackling orange portal opens beside them and they all go home. 

__________ 

 

Pepper Potts is no stranger to the strange and weird. 

 

She’s seen a wormhole open above Manhattan and spit out aliens. She’s seen a homicidal robot try to take over the world. She’s shared meals with a god, super soldiers, and spies. She’s seen a teenage boy climb up her walls. Her boyfriend’s idea of a hobby was to fly around in a tin can, for god’s sake. 

She’d accepted years ago that a certain level of domestically was something unattainable for her. 

When she fell in love with Tony Stark, before the aliens, before the Avengers, when the world seemed a lot simpler, when she was just his assistant, she assumed she’d have to settle for loving him from a far, watching the seemingly never-ending stream of one nights stands and putting him back together each time he fell apart. 

Then Iron Man happened and the unspoken words between them became spoken and Pepper again assumed that it was still out of reach. Between her running the company and Tony playing super hero, it seemed unlikely. 

Pepper Potts has seen some unbelievably things and has taken it all in stride but here now, looking over her living room on a Saturday morning, she can hardly believe what she’s seeing. 

Her family is scattered around the room, finishing breakfast. May cooked and Rhodey didn’t even have to step in and save the meal. Happy is sitting close by her elbow, flirting and complementing every bite. Peter and Tony lay on their bellies on the carpet playing Morgan. _Her daughter._

She and Tony have a child and there are days that Pepper still can’t wrap her head around it. 

She takes a second to silently thank anyone listening for what she has in front of her. A family. A future. 

Pepper settles down on the floor behind Tony and Peter and watch as they make increasingly silly faces at Morgan, trying to get her to laugh at them before the other. Pepper leans forward and presses a kiss into Tony’s cheek. Morgan thinks that’s hilarious and bursts into giggles, crowning Pepper the victor of the boys’ contest. 

Peter pouts at the loss but gets over it quickly when Morgan crawls into his lap. 

Tony chuckles and turns to her with a questioning brow. 

“I’m not complaining, but what was that for?” 

“Just everything.” Pepper says it casually, almost cavalier, but Tony knows her well enough to catch the deeper meaning that rests just underneath her words. He shrugs a little and rests his head against her shoulder. 

“I only did about twelve percent.” 

“Still,” Pepper says and ducks down for another kiss. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Tony says solemnly, his eyes reflecting all the emotion that’s stirring around in Pepper’s chest. 

They share another soft smile and go back to watching their daughter and their family, both ready to take on whatever the next chapter of their lives may bring. 

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> One week out. 
> 
> We're really in the endgame now.
> 
> Come visit me on [ tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/awwcoffee92)


End file.
